Breadcrumb trail

Archived — Meet the Teachers 1993

Archived Information

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Douglas Parsons

Bishop O'Neill Collegiate,
Brigus

Douglas Parsons was born and brought up in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. In 1975, he completed a BSc in math and physics at Memorial University of Newfoundland and, in 1978, he added a BA in computer studies and a BEd to his qualifications. From 1977 to 1983, he taught at schools in both Newfoundland and Labrador, then moved to Bishop O'Neill Collegiate in Brigus, which is less than an hour's drive from St. John's on the Avalon Peninsula.

Bishop O'Neill Collegiate has an enrolment of fewer than 200 high school students (it also has Grade 8 and 9 students). It must compete with a much larger school in the area to attract science students.

New Brunswick

Dennison Tate

Harrison Trimble School,
Moncton

Dennison Tate grew up on White Head, a small island near the island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick. His first six years of school were in a one room school with one teacher; his last six grades were at Grand Manan High School. From there he went to the New Brunswick Teacher's College at the University of New Brunswick, graduating in 1967.

Dennison began teaching at Hillcrest Junior High School in Moncton the same year. He spent two years there followed by two more at Queen Elizabeth Junior High School. After that, he went back to the University of New Brunswick for one year and joined the staff at Harrison Trimble High School in 1971. Two years later, he became head of the physics department.

Harrison Trimble is one of five high schools in Moncton. It has a student population of roughly 1 150 in grades 10 to 12.

Quebec

Gérard Camisa

École secondaire des Sources,Dollard-des-Ormeaux

Gérard Camisa was born in France. He studied in Paris, where he obtained a baccalaureat in philosophy, and then continued his studies in philosophy and sociology at the Sorbonne. He also holds a BSc and a diploma in pedagogy from the Université de Montréal.

From 1964 to 1967, Gérard taught in Madagascar. In 1969, he came to Dorval, Quebec, where he taught for six years before going to Cameroon from 1975 to 1978 with the Canadian International Development Agency. Since then, he has taught mathematics at l'École secondaire des Sources in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, near Montreal, which has an enrollment of 1 550 students from a variety of backgrounds, languages and ethnic groups.

Ontario

Peter Crippin

Woburn Collegiate,
Scarborough

Peter Crippin is a native of Toronto. He received a BA in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1970, and an MA in 1972.

Peter began his teaching career at Scarborough's Woburn Collegiate, which is an urban, multicultural secondary school with an enrollment of 1 800 students. In 1984, he became head of the IS-teacher mathematics department. While still teaching, Peter returned to further study at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and received a MEd in 1986.

In 1993, he accepted a position at Upper Canada College, where he taught upper school mathematics to the OAC (Ontario Academic Credits, formerly Grade 13) level. In addition to regular classes, he offered a weekly evening course in problem solving. In 1995, he returned to Woburn Collegiate.

Kendall Crouch

Hillcrest High School,
Ottawa

Kendall Crouch was born in Ottawa, where he received a bilingual education. In 1961, he completed a BSc Honours in physics at the University of Ottawa. The next year, he began teaching at Hillcrest High School, a bilingual school serving a student population of approximately 1 000 students from many backgrounds.

He completed his MSc in high energy physics in 1964, and became head of science at Hillcrest in 1969, a position he held until his retirement in 1994.

Richard Hopkins

Napanee District Secondary School,
Napanee

Richard Hopkins is an engineer, an entrepreneur and a teacher. He received a BSc in civil engineering from Queen's University in 1973. After working for A1can Canada Products Ltd. for two years, he founded Amherst Renewable Energies Ltd. In 1978, he began a decade of work for Alcan International Ltd. and, in 1990, he returned to Queen's for his BEd.

Richard's practical background gives him an ideal combination of interests and abilities for teaching industrial physics at Napanee District Secondary School. It is a composite school that offers a full range of academic, technical and arts courses from Grade 9 to OAC (Ontario Academic Credits, formerly Grade 13). The school draws its 1 400 students from a large rural area that is home to light and medium industries as well as agriculture.

Robert Loree

Oakville Trafalgar High School,
Oakville

Robert Loree was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but makes his home in Ontario where he took his BEng from McMaster University in 1970. His first job was with the Canadian Gypsum Company, but he soon went back to school to earn a BEd from the University of Toronto in 1972. He then began an association with Oakville Trafalgar High School (OTHS) in Oakville, Ontario that continues today.

OTHS has an enrollment of 1 200 students in Grades 9 through OAC (Ontario Academic Credits, formerly Grade 13). It is an urban school that Robert characterizes as being "filled with well-motivated students." Robert is currently spending half his time at OTHS and the other half on secondment to Human Resources Development Canada as a cooperative education resource teacher for both the public and Catholic school boards in Halton County, seeking ways to foster cooperative education in science and technology.

Paul Tamblyn

Acton High School,
Acton

Paul Tamblyn's early schooling in Bowmanville, Ontario gave him real experience in classrooms where students cooperatively support one another. From Grade 1 to 8, he was in a one-room school with 16 students; from Grade 9 to 13 he shared a four-room school with 99 students. He has used this experience to create an atmosphere that encourages cooperative problem solving and communication between students at different levels in his teaching today.

Paul went on to the University of Guelph, where he received a BSc in agriculture in 1966, then an MSc in 1968, and finally a PhD in 1971.

He now teaches at Acton High School, 100 km west of Toronto. Its 575 students are drawn from backgrounds that are both rural and urban, agricultural and industrial. The University of Guelph, McMaster University, the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University are all nearby, providing physical, intellectual and role-model resources to which Tamblyn has helped his students gain access.

Manitoba

Roberta Vyse and Norm Lee

Bird's Hill School,
Winnipeg

Roberta Vyse was born and educated in Winnipeg. She went to the University of Manitoba and received a BA and Bachelor of Pedagogy in 1974. She taught physical education at the junior high level and was a physical education consultant for 10 years before becoming principal of Bird's Hill School. Roberta has since taken a senior position with the Manitoba Ministry of Education.

Norm Lee was born in Toronto, but grew up in Winnipeg, where he graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA in 1967 and completed his teaching certificate the next year. He then spent two years teaching before completing a BEd in 1972. In 1975, he added an honours year to his BA, and he received a MEd in 1977. He joined the staff at Bird's Hill School in 1970. Norm now runs his own business.

Bird's Hill School is located in Winnipeg and has an enrollment of 525 students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.

Frank Borowski

Grant Park High School,
Winnipeg

Frank Borowski was born and educated in Winnipeg. He holds four degrees from the University of Manitoba: a BA (1954), a BSc (1955), a Bachelor of Pedagogy (1960) and a BEd (1963); plus an MSc in physical chemistry from Bowling Green State University (1973).

From 1960 to 1993, Frank taught at Grant Park High School in Winnipeg, an urban school with an enrollment of approximately 1 000 students from a wide variety of backgrounds. In 1976, he began teaching an Advanced Placement chemistry course that drew the top students from the entire city. He continued this program until his retirement. He now spends his winters in Phoenix, Arizona and his summers at home in Winnipeg.

Saskatchewan

Jolene Holtvogt-Briens and Michael Walter

James Hamblin School,
Qu'Appelle

Born in Edmonton, Jolene Holtvogt-Briens has spent most of her life in Saskatchewan. She went to school in Melfort, and received her BSc and BEd from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987. She is the author of a compendium of games, activities and projects for secondary mathematics students.

Since receiving her award, Jolene has expanded her teaching-related activities to include speaking at conferences and writing for the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation. She is also an evaluator with the Saskatchewan Department of Education's mathematics assessment program and sits on an advisory committee for a classroom management document.

Michael Walter was born and went to school in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. He received his BEd from the University of Saskatchewan in 1989. Before coming to teach science at James Hamblin School in 1990, he taught for a year at Preeceville School in Preeceville, Saskatchewan.

James Hamblin School has a student population of 200 and serves a rural, economically challenged district in south eastern Saskatchewan.

Alberta

Jeanne Hetherington

York School,
Edmonton

Jeanne Hetherington is from Edmonton and completed a BEd at the University of Alberta in 1977. She later completed two graduate diplomas: one in art history in 1980, and one in early childhood education in 1982.

As she did not have a background in science when she began teaching, Jeanne supplemented her formal education by working to become scientifically literate through in-service and university courses.

When she won this award, Jeanne was teaching at York School in Edmonton, which is a Kindergarten to Grade 6 school in an urban area. It has a varied and multicultural enrolment of approximately 300 students. She is currently teaching science to students in grades 7 through 9 at Vernon Barford School.

British Columbia

Geoffrey Cowell

W. J. Mouat Secondary School,
Abbotsford

Geoffrey Cowell was born in the Isle of Man, where he received his primary and secondary education before coming to Canada. He completed a BSc at the University of British Columbia in 1967 and his teaching certificate the next year. These were followed by a MEd in curriculum development in 1971.

For 22 years, he has taught at W. J. Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford. The French-immersion school has an enrolment of 1200 students in grades 8 to 12. According to its principal, Jim Perry, who was Geoffrey's nominator, it is "a Canadian mosaic in microcosm."

Joanne Melville

Killarney Secondary School,
Vancouver

Joanne Melville, who comes from Vancouver, completed a BSc in microbiology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1966 and worked as a scientist in the same field before returning to university to complete a BEd in 1974, and a MEd a decade later.

From 1983 to 1992, Joanne taught at Killarney Secondary School in Vancouver, where she was head of the mathematics and science department. Beginning in 1992, she spent two years as a member of the faculty of education at UBC in the department of mathematics and science education. In 1994 she returned to high school science teaching as head of the mathematics and science department at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School in Vancouver. In 1995, she will be going back to Killarney Secondary School.

Killarney Secondary School is an urban school with 1 975 students. The school offers a wide range of courses from grades 8 to 12, including those for special needs and gifted students.

Ian deGroot

Sutherland Secondary School,
Vancouver

Ian deGroot was born in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana) and received his primary education there. He came to Canada as a teenager and received a BSc in mathematics and physics in 1969 from the University of British Columbia. Ian also attended the Simon Fraser University Professional Development Program in 1973, and completed a MEd in mathematics education at UBC in 1981.

Ian worked as a systems analyst for Gulf Oil Canada and BC Tel before becoming a teacher. He first taught at Carson Graham Secondary School in North Vancouver. Since 1979, he has taught at Sutherland Secondary School in Vancouver, where he is head of the mathematics department. Sutherland is an urban school with a multicultural student population of 1 000 from grades 8 to 12.